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Crime World Long Read: Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh - from low-level dealer to Ireland's most-feared mob boss (Part 1)
Nicola Tallant reveal the rise and spectacular fall of Bomber's empire
When the Criminal Assets Bureau was set up in 1996 after the brutal murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh was its first target.
A known drug dealer and with a string of convictions, Bomber was then running a lucrative business along with his cousin Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh. They were dealing whatever they could get their hands on and making a pretty penny as a result.
Hatchet would be shot dead in Marbella in 2014, a hit understood to have been sanctioned by Kavanagh and organised by his then business partner, Daniel Kinahan.
But when David Byrne took a bullet meant for Daniel at the Regency Hotel in February 2016 — it changed everything and cemented a blood bond between Kinahan and Kavanagh that would set them in the sights of international law enforcement.
Now, in a Crime World special, we reveal the rise and spectacular fall of Bomber's empire and why he became one of Ireland's most-feared mob bosses.
Crime Word Podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Soundcloud.
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